Month: September 2014

Many of my friends with whom I have enjoyed the convenience of cellular conversations, no longer answer when I call; they tell me I should text. The result is that I have fewer cellular conversations.

Texting is not a replacement for speech; it is in fact, a threat to spoken vocabulary. We all possess several vocabularies. The most limited of these sub-categories is Text Language which is the smallest of them all. TL is quickly replacing our reporting vocabulary, our reading vocabulary and our conversational vocabulary, all of which until recently were for most people our largest vocabularies.

The smart phone is returning us to a Planet of the Apes.

Note: I had an emergency surgery yesterday on my right hand. I had an ugly, rapid growth squamous cell interfering with the use of my right hand. I shall return On October 1 2014.

“With all art and with most artists; painters, poets, novelists, playwrights, song writers and composers, the answer is pretty much the same. The artist begins with an honest, realistic view of something in the natural world. Thus begun, the next step is one of destruction.

The components are altered; in some cases disassembled and thrown about in disarray.

An abstract painting may focus only on color, a musical piece influenced by visual principles.

And then…

A sense of balance is reintroduced, rearranged and always, if the art is good, there is continuity. if it is bad, you will know instantly.”

“Sounds all very ethical”

“Indeed”

“And what about photography?”

“Either ya like it or ya don’t.”

“That’s it?”

“As far as I can tellt.”

“But you’ve been judging photography all your life. Surely you have some kind of opinion.”

“That was photography; this is digital imagery, today.

There are many beautiful digipics. They seem to fit into two categories:

“With all art and with most artists; painters, poets, novelists, playwrights, song writers and composers, the answer is pretty much the same. The artist begins with an honest, realistic view of something in the natural world. Thus begun, the next step is one of destruction.

The components are altered; in some cases disassembled and thrown about in disarray.

An abstract painting may focus only on color, a musical piece influenced by visual principles.

And then…

A sense of balance is reintroduced, rearranged and always, if the art is good, there is continuity. if it is bad, you will know instantly.”

“Sounds all very ethical”

“Indeed”

“And what about photography?”

“Either ya like it or ya don’t.”

“That’s it?”

“As far as I can tellt.”

“But you’ve been judging photography all your life. Surely you have some kind of opinion.”

“That was photography; this is digital imagery, today.

There are many beautiful digipics. They seem to fit into two categories:

As an art dealer I am often asked for my expertise in determining the value of a work of art or antique passed on to them by Aunt Minnie or Grandpa Frank; the interrogator of the moment appears to hope that by meeting me that they have stumbled into their own Road Show host who is about to make them rich for a month or two.

Of course a competent appraiser is competent not because of on-the-spot knowledge but by competency as a researcher. To carry that much stuff around in ones’s head, even as a specialist in one small area would drive most people mad. Add to that the fact that such knowledge is amended every second of every hour and we have light-years of information to edit.

And that’s how it is with life in general for all of us. In our professional lives we learn how to research and maybe we pick up a few tidbits of stable factoids which help to enhance our aura of concern in our supposed area of expertise. And in our personal lives we solve the most difficult research problems by adopting the views of whatever groups which seem to influence us the most.

I am listening to Ravel’s Bolero. Ravel claimed this piece of music was meant only as an exercise. Little did he know how much exercise would be generated in years to come by the enthusiastic response to this music.

In 1958 there was a story taking place in my life that included my first introduction to Bolero. My experience included hearing these words. “Bolero is the perfect music to make love to.”

In 1977 I partnered with a movie producer friend, Peter Bogdonavitch in a major art show which included an invitation-only short film about the production of our presentation. Over coffee I told Peter of my experience in the fifties and repeated the quotation. He grabbed a napkin and a pen and said “Mind if I use this?” referring to the quote.

I nodded yes. The following day Peter told a pal of his, Blake Edwards and Mr Edwards who was already in production for “Ten” starring Bo Derek and Julie Andrews said “Yes” and he put the perfectly quoted “Bolero is the perfect music to make love to.” into the film.